Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Wind That Shakes The Barley: Depressing Much?

Repeating what the other students have said on here, I will write as best I can. First off, I really enjoy all of Cillian Murphy’s (he played Damien) films because his acting always brings me into all of his films, so that already started the movie off on a positive note for me. The Wind That Shakes The Barley was quite depressing and really gave me a feel for the times that Yeats and Toomer were experiencing. The brutish force of the British Military guys that were in Ireland was astounding. How they could just murder a teenage boy, I do not know. The way the main characters took the situation into their hands by training teens and themselves was very interesting to watch. In a way, they were sort of becoming what they hated most – murderers – but they had a different and valid agenda for their actions.

The ending of the film was so depressing. I did not expect it to just end on the somber note of Damien dying and Sinead left to deal with this. I found this extremely tragic, but at the same time an extremely important scene and metaphor for the times in Ireland. No one was safe against the British, and this was the travesty that the Irish had to deal with. This ending scene gives us insight to content and context of Yeats and Toomer and their works (and probably upcoming works).

1 comment:

Yes, I really like that element (their becoming just as murderous and vengeful as the British seem to be). I agree on the ending, too. I was sad when it just ended like that, because I wanted to see more, but then I thought, "Wait, that's a good way to end it." Generally, I like these kinds of closings, the kind that say, "That's the end of that, but it keeps going. The story is unending."